- The Barista’s Brew is a puzzle/time management game in which the baristas collect all the necessary ingredients and techniques to craft the ultimate gourmet coffee by using an organized inventory system, a variety of grinders and brewing machines, and a customer order list.
- The Cure for Common Nonsense is a collaborative deduction game in which a group of scientists work together to collect “Clue” cards to develop a “Cure” for an illogical and growing problem (ex. “The Case of the Talking Teapots”) by using a hand of “Trait” cards to make the most logical (or illogical) argument to persuade their teammates.
- The Alchemist’s Collection is a cooperative puzzle game in which a team of alchemists work together to collect a set of five matching magical ingredients to complete a powerful potion by using a hand of color-coded “Ingredient” cards and a hidden role (ex. The Herbalist, The Scribe) to perform actions and prevent a disaster.
- Ghostly Gala is a party/memory game in which teams of players compete to collect a complete set of Ghostly Guests by matching their hidden identities to their haunted pasts by using a series of question cards, deduction skills, and a shared memory board to track their progress.
- The Great Costume Seance is a collaborative deduction game in which a team of trick-or-treaters work together to collect and correctly match a Major Arcana Costume Card (ex. The Empress/Witch, The Fool/Clown) to its corresponding “Meaning Token” by using a series of Minor Arcana cards as clues drawn from the deck and a six-sided die roll to restrict how many clues they can reveal per turn.
Andrew H Citadel/King of Tokyo Play test Questions
Playtest Questions: Catan
Catan is a board game in which players build roads, settlements, and cities to help reach 10 victory points by using dice rolls, currency gained by owning settlements and cities, and using development cards to one’s advantage.
- Was it fun?
Catan was very fun. I was honed in on expanding my settlement and gathering resources.
- What were the player interactions?
Player interactions included collecting resources according to the number rolled, buying buildings or development cards, trading with other players, robbing other players, and getting robbed by other players.
- How long did it take to learn?
It surprisingly only took about 10-15 minutes to learn. It seemed like a lot at first since the setup took a good bit of time.
- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
The most frustrating aspect was when multiple dice rolls in a row granted me nothing in resources.
- What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
My favorite aspect was being able to rob other players and hinder how many resources they would get in future turns.
- Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
I wanted to play my development cards in the same turn I bought them in.
- If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
I would add the ability to play your development cards in the same turn you bought them in.
- Is this a game you would play again?
I would 100% play Catan again. The game feels like it can have thousands of outcomes, which means every game will be unique. Each game would also be unique since the numbers that are placed on the board are random, so your strategy from one game could be wildly different than the next. I got really into building my settlement to be the strongest it could be.
Game Response Questions – King of Tokyo
- Was it fun?
- I thought the game was fun, but I didn’t like it as much as the other games I played. I think I am starting to gravitate slowly to games that favor playing with cards.
- What were the player interactions?
- The player interactions were between being inside or outside of Tokyo which all depended on how the attacks were placed on people and how their own strategies affected their game.
- How long did it take to learn?
- It took us 5 minutes total, simply because we had Ames playing who knew what to do.
- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
- The most frustrating moment of the game was playing the game in terms of health as my strategy to win, but I was beaten to the punch, losing by energy points.
- What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
- My favorite moment was thinking I could win simply by keeping my health up while depleting others’. Also, not a big fan of the rules inside of Tokyo, felt like I never made it there.
- Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
- One thing that I wanted to do was take away people’s energy points or steal energy points.
- If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
- I would make a smaller deck of cards and make one card where people could wipe out their other opponents’ energy points or an if then statement card to help players who are playing the health strat gain more energy points.
- Is this a game you would play again? Yes _____ No ______ Why
- I would not play this game again simply because it wasn’t as exciting as I had hoped for. The game wasn’t rage baiting me, so it was a bust lol. Yeah, I really like a game that starts arguments, and I just didn’t get that from this game. I want a game to start WWIII.
- Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.
- The beginning of the game, being the setup of monsters having a central conflict, starts the game. The players are discovering the theme and mechanics being put into this world. The introduction of the attack card is where the real game begins. Then the bulk of the game is the most engaging because the stakes grow as you’re forced to choose between collecting coins and building, or collecting coins to destroy others while collecting energy cubes and trying not to die. Lastly, there is the dramatic ending as monsters race to 20 points without dying.
- What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game?
- More coercion and manipulation than collaboration in the sense that you can convince someone to go into Tokyo, then absolutely obliterate them with attacks. In the competitive aspect, it truly is every man for themselves because how can you roll and get lucky without rolling something good but not knowing it, then getting crushed because on your final roll, you get screwed.
- What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics stand out?
- The metaphor/narrative is to keep the monsters in check and get them to take each other down, and be the sole monster to take over Tokyo. The genius mechanic of this game was the dice roll limit being 3, because it gives the player more options and allows them to choose the best play for them.
Game Response Questions – Citadel
- Was it fun?
- I actually really enjoyed this game, though it was intimidating at first as far as directions go. I would go out and get this game myself to play simply because I like the strategy each character card gets.
- What were the player interactions?
- The player interactions were between different warlords and any other player, as well as being the assassin and killing people you know are in the game.
- How long did it take to learn?
- Overall, I believe it took us 20 minutes total, including all the questions we had to ask ChatGPT to break down, because sometimes we were confused by the rule book and this just broke it down into understandable chunks: link to find out all what we asked ChatGPT
- What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
- The most frustrating moment of the game was honestly figuring out how to play, but once we got in the swing of it went by. Other than arguing on the steps for the game. We made it a big deal by playing the steps in order.
- What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
- My favorite moment was watching the other players not realize what good cards were in the pile and being the second or third to play, because then I could gauge what other players had as cards and simply by the pattern of what they normally chose.
- Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
- One thing that I wanted to do was give more option to chose the king card because it was being hogged by the same people, so a little more rotation.
- If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
- I would make it clear that the order of a player’s action be very specific because we all got too excited and we may have played illegally.
- Is this a game you would play again? Yes _____ No ______ Why
- I would definitely play this game again I really enjoyed the not know and plotting as well as the process of elimination of the game. This is very engaging and made me feel smart.
- Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.
- The beginning of the game is the setup of the board. Players learn the rotation of character cards and how each card affects the other players, as well as building their empire. Then the second stage is the struggle of deducing who has what card and how you can use your player to your advantage by just collecting coins to purchase or destroy others. Lastly, the push for victory can easily be described as what strategy are you gonna use to win, is it taking down others, or does it involve?
- What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game?
- This game is most definitely on the competitive side, being that there is a little bit of teamwork in taking other people down, but also it can quickly change to every man for themselves when the character cards get changed and then it gets ugly.
- What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics stand out?
- The game’s metaphor/narrative is building up your kingdom to the best ability using your power to complete the building of your kingdom. The biggest standout mechanic, which I think should be emphasised and could make or break a player, is the order in which the player completes their turn. They should’ve emphasised that you do basic actions FIRST before character actions.
Game Response – Camel Up
Camel Back is a chance-based betting game in which players accumulate money by racing camels around a track by rolling dice that are color coordinated to the respective camels.
Was it fun? Yes, it was a chill fun
What were the player interactions? Not too much collaboration but we still interacted in a sense of gauging what other players would do to anticipate the betting
How long did it take to learn? Mmm 15-20 mins maybe
What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? It really wasn’t too frustrating
What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? Not having control of the camels was actually a very interesting aspect of the game – just watching them do their thing by chance was fun and then betting with no actual stakes, honestly it felt a lot like Clue but obviously a few different mechanics which made it move easier
Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? Not that I can think of no it just sorta worked out
If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? Maybe make the game setup a little easier, it was tricky figuring out where everything went, there were too many different cards that some didn’t seem to matter too much, making them mean more or taking them out completely would be best
Is this a game you would play again? Yes, it was cute and easy and fun
Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. The setup was definitely one and giving the camels their first moves, then every leg of the race was part of act 2 and act 3 began when people started betting on the total winner of the race when the camels got closer to the finish line
What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? Not really collaborative except for the fact you just have to pay attention to what everyone else is doing, competitive because we are all trying to get as much money as we can by ourselves, there weren’t any teams or anything
What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? The camel metaphor was very fun – having so many different ways to earn money was very well thought out especially the betting cards and having several legs of the race available
Bug Themed Ideas
AI Generated Mockups – Fester (originally micro myriad)
AI Generated Mockups – Fester
Matician Rules
Setup
- Shuffle the “Equation Symbols” deck and the “Numbers and Symbols” deck separately
- Dealer deals 1 face-up “Equation Symbols” card to each player and 6 face-down “Numbers and Symbols” cards to each player
- Each “Equation Symbols” card is placed in front of the player it was dealt to
Objective(s)
- Create the equation with the highest solution with your given “Numbers and Symbols” cards
- Attempt to lower the solution of other players’ equations with your “Numbers and Symbols” cards
Actions players take
- Once cards are dealt and each player has their “Equation Symbols” card in front of them face-up, the round starts
- First, players evaluate their hand and play the cards they believe will yield the highest possible solution. One card will go on one side of the symbol, and one will go on the other side, both face down (ex. 6 + 15)
- After each player places their cards face down on each side of the symbol card, players have the option to add a card that they think will sabotage another player (if they have any in their hand)
- Once all players have made their final moves, every player flips the cards in front of them over to reveal their numbers and the card another player may have placed
Ending the game (win, lose states)
- The player who first reaches 3 points wins the game. 1 point is granted for each “highest solution”. The game can either end, or play can resume to determine the place of all other players
Example
- A player could have the equation “4 + 13”, but after those cards are placed face down, another player could put a “-” face down in front of the 13 to make the equation equal -9 instead of 17
5 Game Ideas – Weeks 2 & 3
Play Tests – Week 4
Fester – Game Rules
Rules For Mow Masters
Madison Hurst
Grass mower is a board game in which you are racing your opponent and you are trying to mow the most grass as you endure different setbacks (ex: a wrench in the grass that breaks your mower). You have to fix these setback before you move forward in the game. The tools used in the game is a board, two-four mini mowers, cards, and a dice.
Objective: The first player to get their mini mower across the entire board or mow the most grass as they endure various setbacks wins.
Players: 2-4 players
Materials:
- one game board
- 4 mini mowers
- 6 sided dice
- 45 Grass Cards (green)
- 20 setback cards (red)
- 15 tool kit cards (purple)
Setup:
- Place board in the center of the players
- Each player is to pick a mini mower piece of their choosing
- Shuffle all three deck of cards
- Each player will roll the dice, and whoever has the highest number will go first. If two players have the same number, they will roll until one player has the highest.
How to Play/ Players turn:
- Player is to roll the 6 sided dice to see how many spaces their mower will move on the board
- After the player’s mower lands on a space, they will need to check the space to what card they may have to pick up next.
- There are 3 deck of cards: Grass cards, Tool kit, and Setbacks
- If the space has a green tile, then the player will pick up a grass card that will determine how many patches of grass is on that space.
- If the space is red, the player has hit a setback and will pull from the setback deck
- In random spaces, they player will have the opportunity to collect a tool kit card. This will help them with their setback cards.
- But, if you have a setback in your hand you will not be able to roll the dice until they solve the setback.
- They player will have to manually fix it by skipping their turn, matching one of their tool cards with that setback, or remove one of their grass cards in order to roll the dice.
- After the players turn they will add up their points
Additional Rules/Actions:
Rule 1: Player can tool trade with their opponents. This can benefit or sabotage either player.
Rule 2: Players can use their turn twice in the whole game to setback their opponent. If they decide to go through with it, they will roll the dice and that’s the amount of spaces the opponent will go back. The opponent will not be able to collect any grass cards until the surpass their initial starting point prior.
Winner: The game will end once the player crosses the finish space. All players will count up how many grass cards they mowed. Additional points will be added to the player that finished the game first.
A grass card will have a number ranging from 1-7 on it. For instance, a player receives a grass card and on the right hand side it has a 4 on it. This means that the player has gained 4 points because they mowed 4 grass patches in that space.
A setback card will have various issues the player will have to solve before moving forward. The card will state what happened to the mower, and what tool kit card the player will need in order to resolve this issue. One example, of a setback card is “a wrench was left in the yard and broke your mower. Fix mower by matching a tool kit card.” The tool kit card will have an image of a brand new mower and says “new engine” and on the back it will say what the card can match to.
“Caked” Rules Draft
Setup: There are little slotted trays (the cake table) given to each player to hold main card stacks. Each player gets dealt 7 (for now if that makes sense) cards from the main deck and places them in order in the cake table. Then they are dealt 5 more cards to hold in their hands.
Objective(s): To be the first to complete your “cake” in the slots and also accumulate the most “ingredients”
Actions players take: Every turn players can (1) choose to replace a card from their cake table by taking a new card from the card pile, the discard pile or a card in their hand OR (2) replace 1-3 cards in their hands from the card pile.
The point of the game is to correctly order the fillings of your cake. The different cards have different types of fillings on them and the order they go in indicated on the card. Players must work to order their cakes correctly. You also create mini hands for extra points out of ingredient cards. (I might do different types of card piles that once you ‘finish’ and ingredient stack you can get higher valued ingredients that are worth more we’ll see) It is part of the strategy to either focus on more cake table cards or the mini hands.
Ending the game: The game ends when correctly fills up their cake table or the card piles run out.